round-up of 2011

round-up of 2011

An excellent year, with delights and discoveries far outweighing the rough and the routine.

Good to venture further, too, discovering new venues and enthusiastic companies.

My thoughts still sometimes appear in The Chelmsford Weekly News, and on The Public Reviews and occasionally on Remote Goat. I'm particularly pleased to have been invited once or twice purely on my own account.

Inevitably, many of the memorable evenings were from groups established at the top of their profession: The Sixteen at Walsingham, Journey's End on tour, Frankenstein, One Man Two Guvnors and Grief at the National, the Rattigans at Chichester.

The Lord Chamberlain's Men, never disappointing, brought a great Dream to Hylands Park, and the other, darker Dream of this year was from ENO at the Coliseum. Two children's book with a WWII setting impressed on tour – Friend or Foe and the more familiar Goodnight Mr Tom. Wittenberg, a reading at Shakespeare's Globe, who've had a great season, was an unexpected treat, and the show I went back to see again [always a sign of excellence] was Pick Yourself Up at the Queen's Hornchurch – a new musical which proved a ready-made classic, and would not look out of place in Regent's Park or the West End.

Of the Christmas shows, the palm would have to go to this year's rock'n'roll Robin Hood at the Wolsey, though Chelmsford's Sleeping Beauty ran it a close second for sheer enjoyment and enthusiasm.

On the amateur stage, we saw a very good Company at Brentwood, an outstanding Into The Woods at Witham, and, in a varied season at the Old Court, an impressive Closer and a well-played Lion in Winter.

Do feel free to comment with your favourites from 2011 – we look forward to being delighted all over again in 2012.

CHARLES DICKENS' CHRISTMAS CAROL

CHARLES DICKENS' CHRISTMAS CAROL

as told by Jacob Marley [deceased]

in the Cramphorn Theatre

21.12.11

Painfully emerging from the Chasms of the Netherworld after 175 years, Jacob Marley, Scrooge's late partner. Like Hamlet's father, he is condemned to be a ghostly bit-part in literature.

But now, in James Hyland's chilling theatrical tour-de-force, he is centre stage, putting his own spin on the familiar Christmas tale.

Dusty and decaying, laden with chains and money-bags, with just a wooden chair for company, he brings to life Charles Dickens' colourful characters. With a turn and a shrug, he becomes Fred the nephew, Bob the Clerk, Belle the beloved, the bereaved Cratchits, the portly Gentleman and even Tiny Tim. And of course Scrooge – his penny-pinching profile, his gleeful enlightenment, and, for a macabre moment, his deathbed corpse.

The author's intentions were well served, one of two interpolations aside [Fat Harry the poulterer?], and it was appropriate that this version concentrated on spectres and redemption. The three apparitions were wonderfully done – the dwarfish past, the towering present, the future with his clawed hand.

No second chance for Marley, alas, and he staggers off to the "incessant torture of remorse". But not before he's rejoiced in Scrooge's new-found generosity of spirit, and wished us all a Merry Christmas.

photo: Hayden Phoenix

A Christmas Carol - As told by Jacob Marley (deceased) from James Hyland on Vimeo.

STONDON SINGERS CHRISTMAS

STONDON SINGERS CHRISTMAS

at the Priory Church of St Lawrence Blackmore

20.12.11

Today the Christ is born – Hodie Christus Natus Est – bracketed this Yuletide concert, in two very different settings: the late Renaissance richness of Sweelinck and the devoutly lyrical Poulenc.

Between these two, we heard Britten and Part [the end of his Magnificat finely judged], two lively pieces by Imogen Holst, and a seasonal selection from Handel's Messiah: "For Unto Us" particularly successful in this chamber version.

The centrepiece was the glorious polyphony of Thomas Tallis – Videte Miraculum. From the 20^th century two new favourites: Rutter's What Sweeter Music, and Kenneth Leighton's gentle lullaby, with a beautiful soprano solo.

Michael Frith was the organist, Christopher Tinker the conductor, and we also heard a reading of Clive Sansom's moving poem The Innkeeper's Wife: "The world is a sad place, But wine and music blunt the truth of it."

Before the mulled wine and mince pies, their traditional Silent Night, sung at the back of the Priory Church, to send us out inspired into the dark lanes of Jericho.

MY COUSIN RACHEL

MY COUSIN RACHEL

Chelmsford Theatre Workshop at the Old Court

17.12.11

Daphne du Maurier's romantic melodrama was already a period piece when it came out in the 1950s.

CTW's Christine Davidson achieved a good sense of that stifled, strait-laced Victorian sensuality in her painstaking production of Diana Morgan's stage adaptation.

An aroma of mulled wine filled the festive foyer, where the decorations included a teapot for the all-important bitter tisane. We heard evocative incidental music specially composed by Andrea Blackwood-Barnes.

Certain of the cast caught the style more successfully than others. I found the "casual generation" – Sophia Charalambous [Louise] and Harry Sabbarton [Phillip] – a little too contemporary, though both had impressive stage presence, and Phillip's drowning in love and descent into madness were movingly done.

Kevin Stemp was a very convincing Italian in a crucial supporting role, Richard Baylis made the most of the old retainer Seecombe, with Nick Gulvin as the level-headed lawyer.

Catherine Bailey made Rachel, Phillip's "torment", a striking, smouldering femme fatale, immediately at ease as the new chatelaine of Barton, reciting a litany of names, toying with the "infatuated, besotted" boy. Their scenes together were some of the strongest; the confrontation of Louise and Rachel, and Louise's early dialogue with Phillip were also grippingly dramatic.

The set, solid and enclosed, with a bevy of servants to deck the hall, was a stylish, telling presence in this intense psychological drama.

CHRISTMAS WITH MOZART

CHRISTMAS WITH MOZART

Chelmsford Singers in Chelmsford Cathedral

18.12.11

Shaffer's envious Salieri was amazed - "It seemed to me I was hearing the voice of God," he says in "Amadeus".

I was reminded of those words as Katherine Fuge's pure soprano floated over the woodwind in the sublime Et Incarnatus Est from Mozart's Great C minor Mass. From her first appearance in the Christe, it was clear that hers was a voice at one with the composer's genius, a lambent, pure tone soaring to the ceiling – a memorable moment.

This was a magnificent performance, from the dramatic Kyrie to the complex counterpoint of the Benedictus. The other soprano, just as impressive as Katherine, was Julie Cooper, outstanding in the ornate Laudamus Te. The Singers, under the inspirational direction of Peter Nardone, were on exceptionally good form throughout, producing a powerful, expressive sound, in the majestic ending of the Gloria, for example.

The accompaniment was provided by the Suffolk-based Prometheus Orchestra, led by Pam Munks. Excellent, authentic-sounding tone, with splendid brass for the Sanctus. They were given a solo spot, too, an energetic Adagio and Fugue. And the evening began with Julie Cooper bringing a refreshing warm, open tone to Mozart's familiar Exsultate, Jubilate.

One of the best concerts I've heard this year, and a much appreciated Christmas gift from the Chelmsford Singers.